


Laughter-A Study in Four Parts

by butterfly_gARDEN



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28363380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterfly_gARDEN/pseuds/butterfly_gARDEN
Summary: A four-chapter work leading up to Christmas Day in which laughter occurs.
Relationships: Amenadiel & Linda Martin (Lucifer TV), Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Eve/Mazikeen (Lucifer TV)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	1. Study #1 Laughter is a Healing Balm

**Author's Note:**

> My apologies, this was supposed to be a Christmas gift for all of you, but Christmas got in the way of that. However, it IS still the holiday season, so I hope that counts.
> 
> The first chapter is the only one with a possible trigger, as the case centers around the death of a child. It is not graphic at all, but please be warned. It is possible to read the rest of the work without reading chapter 1, if you feel more comfortable avoiding it.
> 
> Please enjoy your holidays, and STAY SAFE!

_December 10th_

Dammit!, Chloe thought to herself, when she got off the phone. She didn’t want company. She wanted a pleasant, scenic drive out to the tree farm. She wanted peace and quiet. She wanted to do something nice for her daughter, Trixie, who was spending the weekend with her father. She wanted her partner, Lucifer Morningstar, to help her carry the tree into the apartment when she got back, since her roommate, Maze, was off bounty hunting. What she got instead was an uninvited guest-Lucifer was coming with her.

Drives with Lucifer never involved quiet; the ma-uh-devil could go on for hours. He MIGHT comment on the scenery, but there was no guarantee. But considering their destination, Chloe figured it would just be a ceaseless whine about how humans make such a huge deal over his stepbrother’s birthday, and she really didn’t think she could deal with it-not after the horrible week they’d had. Then, it hit her. It was THEIR horrible week. He needed this outing as much as she did. For HIS sake, she would welcome his company; he needed to be with her.

Chloe stepped out of the apartment and was heading to the parking lot just as Lucifer was walking up the stairs.

“Good morning, Detective!” he called cheerily.

“Lucifer! Hi!” she said, smiling, giving him a quick kiss on his lips. “Ready?”

“Lead the way, Detective.”

Soon enough, they found themselves in the San Gabriel mountains. The scenery was calming, serene, and beautiful. Thankfully, Lucifer was more than willing to talk about the landscape. In fact, Lucifer seemed more relaxed than he had been since they first met that morning, and Chloe had to admit that SHE felt more relaxed, too.

A huge, inflatable Santa welcomed them when they pulled up to the tree farm, positioned so that it waved cheerily at oncoming traffic. Chloe rolled her eyes as her partner grumbled about the lack of aesthetic appeal of inflatables as yard art, of course. The air was cool and crisp up here in the mountains, and a fine layer of snow had fallen some time earlier. An outdoor sound system was blaring familiar Christmas tunes, and Chloe began to smile as she zipped up her coat. Fortunately, Lucifer had actually listened to her and had brought a winter coat with him. His coat was an elegant black wool number, custom-tailored, of course, knee length. He stood in sharp contrast with Chloe, who was wearing a puffy white nylon Walmart special. Her attire never bothered Lucifer, however, In his eyes, his Detective would be beautiful wearing a burlap sack.

All around them, people were milling about, families with children moving about excitedly, young couples arm in arm, clearly in love, and farm staff helping customers create lasting Yuletide memories. Lucifer offered Chloe his hand, and she took it as they began to head for the seemingly endless rows of evergreens waiting to be taken home.

Chloe checked out each tree with a discerning eye. After all, this was for her daughter, so the tree had to be just right. They’d been at it for a while before Lucifer began to lose interest in the entire activity. Truth be told, he was bored, at this point, and was making no bones about whining about it.

“Detective, why DO you humans insist on cutting down perfectly decent pine trees and dragging them into your homes? You only end up dragging the thing out a few weeks later, dessicated and dropping bloody pine needles all over the place, and for what? It’s a bloody waste of perfectly good lumber. You DO realize, do you not, that Christmas trees are a pagan symbol reinvented by Christian missionaries, don’t you? The only pine trees my stepbrother was familiar with were Lebanese cedar-and only then because he was a carpenter, by trade.”

Chloe had put up with the whining for a while; it was Lucifer, after all. But finally, she’d reached her limit and snapped.

“No, you see, this is why I wanted to come here by myself, Lucifer. I’m outside in the fresh air on a beautiful sunny day. I’m listening to dorky Christmas music, I’m watching people enjoying themselves. I’m getting away from what we...did this week. I need this. I NEED this. And...and...Christmas trees are pretty. And right now, Lucifer, I. NEED. Pretty.” Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill.

Thoroughly taken aback, Lucifer simply stood by, gazing at his partner. Yes, it had been a horrible week. Three weeks before Christmas, five-year-old Nicholas Gatesby had been brutally murdered by his own mother. He and his two brothers had only recently been allowed to return home after being removed earlier by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care. There had been assurances to the agency that the mother was no longer a threat to them. Now, little Nicholas lay beaten to death on the floor of his room. Judging from the few family photos visible in the house, he had been an adorable child, dark ringlets framing his cherubic face, his first name adding yet another cruel barb into the entire situation. All little Nicholas should have been concerned about was if Santa was going to come. He shouldn’t have been concerned at all because there was a monster living under his roof.

The death of a child was never easy for even the most seasoned of police officers. Lucifer noticed how many “tough” cops on scene looked away, surreptitiously wiping their eyes, but Chloe had remained stoic on scene, ever the professional. When questioned, the mother simply stated that Nicholas “had kept refusing to pick up his toys, and had thrown a tantrum,” so she “just pushed him around a little.” Once the mother had been taken into custody, Chloe had walked past the two remaining siblings, suitcases packed, sitting resignedly on the couch, waiting for CPS to come get them. She had spoken to them, ever so gently, trying to offer reassurances, but there really were none. They were going back into the system that failed them.

Lucifer had lost sight of Chloe as the mother was led away in handcuffs, but eventually, he spotted her, seated in the driver’s seat of her car. The _hey, moron, you left the keys in the ignition alarm_ was sounding off, unheeded. Chloe sat with her feet still on the ground outside the car, sobbing. Alone, unobserved by her coworkers, Chloe had finally given in to the heartbreak of the scene she had just left. _Every crime scene breaks your heart_ , he had once told her. But no crime scene was as heartbreaking as the brutal death of a child.

Yes, Chloe needed pretty, and Lucifer was going to make sure she got it. He stepped forward and brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m sorry, Detective, you DO need pretty,” he said nodding. “Nay, you DESERVE pretty. Come, let’s get you the prettiest tree on the lot.”

He reached forward, drawing her head in, and kissed the top of her head. Looking at each other, they nodded their heads and moved on. It was not long afterwards that they found the perfect tree. Ever childlike, Lucifer watched with unbridled excitement as the employees fed Chloe’s tree through the netting machine, bringing forth a compact, manageable parcel that fit more securely into her trunk.

“If I ever go back to Hell,” he said cheerily, looking at the machine, “I’m going to bring one of these bad boys with me. Just think of the uses...unruly demons, depraved souls,...Hell-forged steel webbing, of course. None of that silly plastic stuff, for sure.” He smiled happily as he glanced over at Chloe, who had gifted him with an eyeroll.

They arrived soon enough back at Chloe’s apartment after Lucifer had treated them both to a nice lunch at a roadside cafe. Lucifer tucked the tree under one arm, despite Chloe’s protests that she only wanted someone to help her carry it into the house.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Detective,” he had said. “No need to exert yourself when you have the devil at your side.”

She really wasn’t surprised, though. Maze had done the same thing the year before.

Lucifer placed the tree into the tree stand that Chloe had put in the corner near the fireplace before she had left that morning, and then together, they began to remove the netting to free the branches.

“Lucifer,” Chloe said, “You should come out from behind the tree, now, before I take this piece of netting off, ‘cause when I do that, all the branches are going to come down.”

“Will do, Detective,” he said, cheerily, “I’ll just remove this last piece up top, here, from this side and-”

Whoosh. At once, all the branches came down, and Lucifer disappeared from view.

“Bloody Hell,” came a muffled voice from behind the tree. Chloe tried not to giggle, she really did, but to no avail. “Lucifer, are you okay?”

“I most certainly am not! There’s more needles in me than a bloody pincushion, and this sap is stickier than your child’s hands will ever be-even if she ate an entire pound of saltwater taffy that had been lying in the sun all day.”

After much thrashing, a very pouty Lucifer emerged from behind the tree, covered in pine needles, with a small branchlet wedged behind his right ear. By now, Chloe was laughing outright, as she grabbed her phone and took a picture.

“Detective, no! Don’t take a-ugh! You little minx!”

“Oooo, I love it. I’m going to make that my wallpaper,” she teased.

“Detec,...ugh! Give me that.” Lucifer dove for the phone, but Chloe turned away, hunching over to protect it from his grasp.

“Detec-Detec-give it here!”

But Chloe managed to dodge his every move, laughing. He had no choice; he brought out the big guns. Retaliation involved a relentless tickle attack, which resulted in the two of them laughing on the floor, with Lucifer still trying to grab Chloe’s phone. But at some point, he began to lessen his grip on her, just watching and listening, propped up on one elbow. As she lay there laughing, he watched the lines of her face relax. With every laugh, all the sorrow, all the stress of the week was being washed away before his eyes. The spark had returned to her beautiful blue eyes, and eventually, he realized that she was watching him with one of her precious smiles. Unable to resist, he began kissing her. She, in turn, reached up and put her arms around his neck, as the kissing became more passionate. At some point, Lucifer had carried Chloe upstairs, the phone long forgotten, and they turned to...other pursuits. But hey, at least they got the tree up.


	2. Study #2 Laughter Relieves Stress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas preparations continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little lighter. The chapters will get lighter as the work goes on. There is no crime scene in this chapter, but there are some bitterweet moments and some angst. But what would Lucifer be without angst?

_December 11th_

“ ‘Lightbringer’, huh?” Chloe teased, as Lucifer attempted to figure out why the string of lights wouldn’t light up.

“Bloody Hell, Detective, it’s the twenty-first century. You would think that by now they would have figured out how to create lights that stayed lit when one bulb burned out.”

“They have. I have a whole bunch of sets right here,” Chloe replied. “That’s why I put this note on the strand you’re working on.”

_Broken. Use for spare bulbs only._

Lucifer gazed at Chloe in mock outrage. “You watched me struggle with this string all this time and said nothing?”

She nodded, giggling.

Lucifer leaned over the cocktail table and smirked at Chloe, who was sitting on the floor, “That was evil, Detective. You have disrespected your king.”

“I await your judgement, My Lord,” Chloe replied in a sultry voice.

“Suitable punishment will be afforded you,” he said, sensually.

“I’m frightened, My Lord,” she smirked, kissing him.

“You should be, My Queen,” he kissed her in return, “I shall ravage every part of your body.”

Realizing that if they continued in this vein, they were going to end up in activities that would not be exactly family friendly, they resumed putting lights on the tree. After all, Dan and Trixie were due to arrive at any moment. Neither of them wanted Trixie to walk in on them while they pursued their version of the joys of the season.

"Colored lights, Detective?” Lucifer asked casually.

“It was a compromise with Trixie,” she answered. “I like white lights, but she likes the flashing colored ones. I agreed to colored lights, but no flashers.”

“Ah, so you, too, got roped into a deal with the Urchin, I see.”

“Yeah,...you don’t have a corner on THAT market, Satan,” she giggled.

The Detective had been busy since the day before. The apartment that Lucifer left that morning before had been devoid of Christmas decorations, save a wreath on the front door, and the tree that had tried to eat him alive. Tonight, however, was a special family night, when the tree got decorated. Dan still participated in the tradition, and Lucifer had been invited to attend, as well.

Things with Lucifer were so much different from last year. Last year, getting Lucifer to even agree to come for Christmas dinner had been nothing short of an ordeal for poor Chloe. But over time, Chloe had finally-finally! managed to make him understand that she and Trixie loved him, because they deemed him _worthy_ of love. They considered him family, because they deemed him _worthy_ of inclusion. They WANTED him there. They wanted his _presence_ , not his presents; he didn’t need to buy out Nordstrom’s to be included. He could have showed up empty-handed (not that the devil ever would!), and he would STILL be loved and accepted. This year had been so much easier. He was willing and eager to participate with all their holiday plans. It was a hard-earned victory for Chloe, and she relished it.

Chloe Jane Decker was a humble woman with simple taste. There were pine/holly garlands over the doors and archways, a few snowman-themed items on her coffee table, and a Christmas throw on the back of the couch, and some holiday-themed throw pillows, but not too much else. The mantle had some holiday snowglobes, with a pine garland draped across it, and their stockings hung from the mantle beneath it. But what caught Lucifer’s eye was the pair of red ribbons that stretched across the front window above the row of electric candles, which were blazing their holiday cheer at any passers-by. As he walked over to take a closer look, he realized that each ribbon had a series of photographs hanging from it-a progression through the years of young girls placing the star on the top of the family Christmas tree. The top ribbon was Dan and Trixie, but the bottom row was clearly Chloe.

As Lucifer suspected, Chloe had been a beautiful child. In her earlier years, she had sported a halo of white blonde ringlets, which had darkened to its current honey gold by the time she was in elementary school. Each picture showed John Decker lovingly lifting his daughter up so she could place the star in its proper place, and Lucifer could tell immediately from the pictures where Chloe had gotten her beautiful blue eyes. Obviously, in the later pictures, Chloe was standing on a stepladder to achieve her goal, but her father was always at her side, one hand on her back, steadying her as she placed the star in its rightful place.

Chloe had walked up to Lucifer as he was studying the pictures. Lucifer put his arm around her and quietly gave her a squeeze.

“Hey, Lucifer, are you okay?” Chloe asked.

“Fine, Detective.” Lucifer cleared his throat. After a few moments, he said, “Hmm. I didn’t always hate my father, you know.”

“No, of course you didn’t, Lucifer,” Chloe said.

“When Father said, ‘Let there be light,’ that was my command, and I created the stars. I was His Light Bringer. He would show me where to place the stars I created, but some of those places were too far away. I couldn’t reach where they were supposed to go, so Father would-”

“Pick you up,” said Chloe, softly.

“Yes.”

“Who knew that would be something we’d have in common?” she said, giving him a sideways hug.

Dan and Trixie arrived shortly after that, Trixie giving her mother a hug before barrelling into Lucifer’s leg.

“Mommy! Lucifer can put the star on the tree if he wants to. I don’t mind.”

“No, Child,” said Lucifer, “that’s your special job. There’s going to be a time in your life when these memories of putting the star on the tree will be very important to you. And you will add your own ribbon and hang your own daughter’s pictures up. This is a special moment between you and your parents.”

“Okay. I was just trying to be nice.”

“And I appreciate the thought, Child.”

After the pictures were taken, with Dan saying that it wouldn’t be too many more Christmases where he could pick his little Monkey up any more, they began to decorate the tree.

“Lucifer, did your family have a big Christmas tree when you were growing up?”

“My family is Jewish, Child. Even my stepbrother, whose birth you are celebrating was Jewish.” Lucifer replied, hoping against hope that it would end the discussion. It did not.

“I thought Jesus was Catholic. Abuela always takes me to Mass with her, and it’s all about Jesus and the Last Supper, and all that.”

“The Catholic church was established after my stepbrother had returned to the Silver City.”

“Oh,” said Trixie, then her face brightened up. “So you celebrated Channukah. Eight days of presents!”

Lucifer laughed, “Gift giving is a more recent part of Channukah, established in modern times by a strong retail market. The original holiday was not a major holiday like Passover or Rosh Hashana. It was just a commemoration of a time when there was only one-day’s worth of sacred oil left to light the altar light, but by a miracle, the oil lasted eight days. That was me, by the way, don’t tell anyone.”

“So, you don’t have a Christmas tree in the penthouse?”

“I should say not. Lux is always decorated, though. Maybe your mother would-”

“No.”

“Sorry, Child.”

“So, do you have a menorah on your piano?” Trixie asked.

“No, absolutely not. I don’t celebrate holidays,” he answered. “Holidays are human constructs, designed to commemorate specific events. Angels were created long before those events took place, and we never celebrated any of them the way you humans do. And, of course there are no holidays in Hell-unless it’s part of someone’s Hell loop. The Christmas loops have lots of elves involved. Very Amusing.” He continued, “I DO throw a wonderful New Years Eve party at Lux, however, should your mother ever-”

“No.”

“Sorry, Child.”

After a moment, Trixie looked at Lucifer and said, “Are you coming for Christmas dinner?”

“I already invited him, Monkey. He’ll be here.”

“Yayyy!” said Trixie, smiling.

“Yes, well, your mother assured me that I wasn’t expected to wear one of those atrocious Christmas sweaters, so I was more than willing to accept the invitation.”

“Lucifer, it’s 70 freakin’ degrees outside,” said Chloe, “Why would I make you wear a sweater?”

“From what I’ve seen on the internet, there are families out there that do that, you know. Ghastly affair, all of it. Then they take all these pictures and mail them to each other, and post them on social media…oh, dear Dad, the indignity of it all!...One would be led to believe that wearing those abominations is actually a legal requirement.” ...and Chloe rolled her eyes at him. Yes! Lucifer smirked in triumph as he hung some pasta/glitter/gold paint...thing, most likely something that Trixie made, from a tall branch.

“Lucifer,” said Chloe, “I promise you that I would NEVER insist that my guests wear ugly Christmas sweaters. I don’t even wear the one my mother sent ME a couple years ago. Why would I expect my guests to wear one?”

She wasn’t going to tell Lucifer that her mother had sent her and Trixie each a matching Christmas sweater, in the hope that Chloe would go to a photographer and get Christmas cards made-the very kind that Lucifer despised. Chloe knew that those pictures would somehow land on some agent’s desk and used to promote Trixie’s acting career. So, she had placed those sweaters in the place of honor they deserved-at the very back of her closet on the highest shelf. No. Just...no.

Smiling, Lucifer dove back into the ornament box and pulled up another glass star. It secretly pleased him how many of the detective’s ornaments were star-shaped, but this one was different. On it was an embossed image of an LAPD badge, with a black ribbon across its face. He knew from personal experience that this was the symbol of an officer lost in the line of duty. The black “ribbon” on the image had John Decker’s name and the years served-from his first year on the job until his End of Watch, twenty some years later. Clearly, this was a gift from the LAPD, given the year that John Decker had perished. Without even thinking twice, he lovingly handed the ornament to his detective. Chloe tearfully took the ornament from him, kissed it, and hung it on the top of the tree, directly below the star tree topper.

“I love you, Daddy, I miss you so much,” she whispered.

Lucifer, Dan, and Trixie stood quietly, giving Chloe the moment they knew that she needed. Eventually, she cleared her throat, smiled, and said, “Well, let’s get back to work, yes? The tree won’t decorate itself.”

Chloe had gone on to explain to Lucifer that, aside from the ornaments that Trixie was making now, most of the ornaments were from her childhood home. Her father had loved Christmas so much that the year he died, both she and her mother couldn’t bring themselves to decorate-or even observe-the holiday. That year, Penelope had develop a new tradition-she left town and celebrated with various friends. Chloe had done likewise until she married Dan. When she was pregnant with Trixie, though, she went to her mother’s beach house and collected the boxes of ornaments, including the star tree topper, so she could begin her own traditions with her daughter.

Lucifer was both amazed and touched. This was the most his detective had ever shared with him about her family. She was indicating one more time that she trusted him, was willing to be vulnerable around him, that in HER eyes, he was worthy. But most of all, he was family-HER family.

The evening was pleasant. The chicken and broccoli alfredo that Chloe made was delicious, the tree was beautiful, and Dan and Lucifer were even getting along. But, of course, things took a turn. Right before he left, Dan had informed Chloe that he had picked up an overtime shift on Christmas Day, even though it was supposed to be his turn to have Trixie for the holidays. Chloe quickly took Dan into the kitchen, where the whisper fight began.

The good news was, Trixie was a very bright child. The bad news was, Trixie was a very bright child. She knew immediately that her parents were arguing about her. Lucifer watched as Trixie slowly melted into the couch, her little knees brought up to her chest, her little pigtails barely visible above her knees. Melting, melting, getting smaller and smaller, as the whisper fight became more animated.

 _Oh, Child, I’ve been there_ , Lucifer thought to himself. He remembered those horrible times when Mum and Father would argue about how much He was neglecting His family in favor of His new project, Earth. All of their children would hide, making themselves smaller and smaller, hoping that they wouldn’t be seen. Whenever Mum found one of them, she always made them her scapegoat for her anger toward their Father, lashing out at them for purported offenses, “punishing” them accordingly. He had been the unlucky target more than once, and he never forgot the day she decided to “punish” him by throwing a meteor down to earth, killing all his dinosaurs. Lucifer looked over and saw the sadness in Trixie’s eyes. Her parents fought far less since the divorce, of course, but from time to time, an issue with Trixie came up, like now. Eventually, Trixie made eye contact with Lucifer. He smiled at her very gently, then quickly flashed his eyes red at her-and Trixie began to giggle.

The argument was still escalating, with Chloe trying to point out that the whole situation wasn’t fair to Trixie, that she needed to have holiday memories with her father, but Dan hit below the belt, insinuating that Chloe was just angry because she couldn’t spend the day in bed with Lucifer.

“That was uncalled for, Dan! This is about YOUR relationship with YOUR daughter.”

Lucifer looked over at Trixie, again, hoping to distract her from the ugliness in the kitchen. To his relief, she was looking at him expectantly, impish grin on her face, completely oblivious to the ‘grown-up stuff’ happening in the kitchen. He flashed his eyes, and this time, Trixie was laughing so hard she fell over on the couch.

“Baby, what’s going on over there?” Chloe called from the kitchen.

“Lucifer’s so funny!” Trixie gasped.

The argument ended and Dan stormed out of the house without even saying goodbye to his daughter. Chloe quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, smoothed her hair, and straightened her shirt before walking over to the two of them, fully intending on apologizing to Lucifer for the awkwardness of the situation. What Dan had done was uncalled for, but she wasn’t going to let Trixie know how badly he had hurt her.

“Are you okay, Detective?” Lucifer asked quietly as she sat down.

“I’m fine, Lucifer, I’ll be okay,” she said with a smile that never reached her eyes.

Lucifer knew that Chloe was anything BUT fine, but he also knew not to press the issue. And as much as he wanted to run out the front door and punch Dan in the... _snowballs_ , he knew that would only make matters worse. He chose, instead, to just put his arm around Chloe’s shoulders. Trixie looked at her mother worriedly, just as Lucifer flashed his eyes one more time. This time, Trixie absolutely ERUPTED in laughter, and instantly, Chloe’s mood changed. Her daughter’s laughter had always been music to her ears. She would rather hear Trixie laugh all day than listen to her Sweet 90’s Jam playlist that Lucifer had created for her. Chloe sat next to Lucifer and relished the sight and sound of her daughter, her source of joy. When all was said and done, Trixie was happy, and that’s all that mattered to her.


	3. Study #3 Laughter is a Gift Shared between Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Case fic-ish?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No notes. Self explanatory.

_December 18th_

“Oh the abomination!” exclaimed Lucifer as they pulled up on scene.

Chloe couldn’t exactly say he was wrong. It was the most...festive?...house on the street. Once inside the fence that was covered in flashing lights, was a holiday display that could probably be seen from outer space. Not a square foot of the front yard was bereft of inflatables, white light animatronic reindeer, and light-up plastic figuerines. The walkway up to the front door was lined with light-up candy canes, and the house, itself, was covered-COVERED in lights, all programed to change color at various intervals. Frankly, it would have put the Griswold house in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to shame.

“Well, Lucifer, people express their holiday joy in different ways, you know? These people are far more...exuberant...than most.” Chloe’s eyes were actually hurting her at this point.

The two partners made their way into the house, and realized that the Christmas spirit was equally as prevalent inside. Every doorway was festooned in tinsel garland. Mr. And Mrs. Claus Anna Lee dolls were sitting in front of the fireplace in rocking chairs. The mantel of said fireplace was buried in white quilt batting with a massive Christmas village perched on top, glowing merrily. A row of mismatched calico stockings hung beneath the mantel. The Christmas tree was gigantic, taking up an entire corner of the room. It was covered with chaser lights moving so fast it would knock out every epileptic within a ten mile radius. Beneath the tree, a large collection of caroler dolls were assembled on a large quilted tree skirt. Holiday scatter rugs littered the floor, and every couch and chair had some sort of Christmas-themed throw on it, the couch containing a large collection of holiday themed throw pillows, as well.

The kitchen had not been spared. A set of cannisters decorated with pointsettias sat on the counter. Every towel was Christmas themed, and a festive tablecloth with matching napkins adorned the table in the dining alcove, where the deceased’s family was currently sitting. Even the curtain valences in the windows were covered in pointsettias.

Sensory overload. That’s what was hitting Lucifer. Sensory overload, which made him yearn for the humble, sensibly decorated apartment where his detective lived. “Ugh, dearie me, Detective, this ENTIRE PROPERTY is a crime scene. A crime against good taste!” he exclaimed.

“Lucifer!” Chloe hissed, “The family is sitting right there. Show some respect.”

Lucifer opened his mouth to retort, thought better of it because he really wanted to have sex with the Detective that night, and simply said, “Apologies, Detective, I seem to have channeled my inner Grinch. Carry on, then.” Inwardly, he was despairing the fact that The Urchin had roped him into watching Christmas specials, but The Grinch wasn’t...too awful.

With an eyeroll, Chloe responded, “Then grow your heart three sizes, Lucifer, this is a very difficult time to lose a family member. The last thing that poor family needs is someone making derogatory comments about their décor!”

“Yes, Mistress. Sorry, Mistress,” Lucifer replied.

Chloe exhaled loudly and shook her head. Lucifer, however, smirked, and followed her. The smirk quickly vanished, however, as a responding officer escorted them down a hallway filled with plastic snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, objects that a 6’3” gentleman couldn’t evade. As Lucifer began grumbling about his hair getting messed up, it was Chloe’s turn to smirk. Holiday-infused karma at its finest, she had to admit.

The room they were led to was at the very end of the snowflake-filled hallway. There, they found the body, a rotund gentleman with a white beard, and full head of white hair, lying on a Christmas-themed duvet. He was stark naked with the exception of a black pleather belt around his waist, while a santa hat sat perched on his head. Ella Lopez was already processing the scene.

“Well!” said Lucifer, “It appears that Santa doesn’t just come down the chimney.”

Ella snickered openly, while the officers who were standing watch at the doorway suddenly found the tinsel garland fascinating.

Lucifer looked at Chloe, expectantly. Massive eyeroll...yes,...facepalm...yes...snicker. Perfect! The trifecta of Chloe reactions. Oh, he was so pleased with himself. He stood at the foot of the bed, smirking.

“Hey, guys," said Ella, "I really don’t think we’re going to need you. According to the wife, she and Kinky Clause, here, were having sex, and wham! He had the Big One. I mean, obviously I’m going to run tox screens just in case, but nothing looks out of place. I’m really thinking this was natural causes.”

“So, if I understand what you’re saying correctly, Ms. Lopez, the poor deceased gentleman in question... _came_ and _went_ at the same time,” said Lucifer, with a deadpanned face.

“Correct,” replied Ella, with a massive shit-eating grin.

Chloe suddenly sputtered, covered her mouth with her hand, and walked swiftly out of the room, her face beet red. It was not a “get the hell out of the way, I’m gonna puke” walk, nor was it a “if I don’t get away from [Lucifer] [Dan] (insert appropriate name, here) right now I’m going to shoot him” walk, it was simply a hasty exit. Lucifer followed her, and found her outside, leaning on the hood of her car, doubled over in laughter. FINALLY! It had literally taken years. Only recently in their relationship would she allow herself to smile or giggle at his jokes on scene, but this time, he finally got her to laugh out loud. Mission accomplished. Chloe eventually stood up, gasping, and saw her partner smiling at her.

“Gotcha,” he said.


	4. Study #4 Laughter Is a Familial Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Day shenanigans

_December 25th_

“Merry Christmas, Detective,” Lucifer nuzzled his lover’s neck. “Would you like to lick MY candy cane?”

Chloe giggled and rolled over onto her back, reaching up to wrap her arms around Lucifer’s neck as he slid on top of her.

“I’m “up” for a little Christmas joy if you are. Oh Come, All Ye Faithful?” he asked, kissing her lips. She smiled at him. “Although with you, it’s never a Silent Night,” he purred. Mag. NIFICENT eyeroll from Chloe. Pleased with himself, he continued, “Wait...I have more…”

“Mommy?” said a small voice from beyond the door.

“Bollocks.”

“Morning, Monkey,” Chloe called out, “We’ll be right there.”

She walked into the bathroom to perform her first thing in the morning human necessities. As she emerged, cinching her bathrobe closed, she saw that Lucifer had put on a pair of black silk lounge pants, white Tshirt, and his black silk bathrobe. She was putting on a pair of white fuzzy socks with little candy canes all over them when Trixie called out again.

“Mommy?”

“Coming, Baby,” she answered.

Quickly, she walked over to Lucifer and threw her arms around his neck. “I promise, tonight you’ll get to unwrap THIS present,” she smiled as she kissed him.

“Ho ho hoooo,” purred Lucifer into her neck.

Chloe opened the bedroom door and pulled her daughter into a huge hug. “Merry Christmas, Monkey!”

“Merry Christmas, Mommy!”

As they stood together in their embrace for several moments, Lucifer stood there, taking in the sight and reveling in it. His detective was the most beautiful woman Dad had ever created, in his honest, unbiased opinion. And Beatrice? The greatest good Dan had EVER done in his life was to contribute Espinosa genetics to his daughter’s creation. The mother and daughter were gorgeous. Oh if only the Great Masters were still alive to capture their beauty. Caravaggio, with his masterful use of light and shadows...oh Dad, no! That man was a raging psychopath, and Lucifer would NEVER let him near “his” girls. Boticelli? Yes, of course. His sense of color was outstanding. No! Michelangelo. Even if the dullard insisted on using Lucifer’s sodding twin brother’s name, he would have captured them perfectly. He somehow managed to express the emotional intimacy between mother and child so brilliantly. So warm, so natural…

It was then that Lucifer realized that his masterpiece had walked down the stairs into the living room. Bollocks. Better get a move on, then.

As Lucifer prepared breakfast, Trixie went through her stocking, and opened her gifts from Santa. (Gifts from friends and family were opened later when everyone had gathered.) Books, art supplies, a couple of DVDs, and some room décor items appropriate for tweens were scattered next to Trixie in no time. Once breakfast had been cleared, everyone got dressed, and Chloe and Lucifer began getting dinner ready, as Trixie lay in front of the fireplace, reading one of her new books.

The rest of the morning passed peacefully until Chloe got a text from Linda that they were on their way over. Trixie quickly gathered all her new things and put them away in her room. Charlie was a toddler, now, and he got into EVERYTHING.

Soon enough, there was a knock on the door. There stood Amenadiel, his arms loaded with presents, a diaper bag hanging off his arm, a Pack ‘n Play hanging off one shoulder, and baby fencing tucked under one arm. And wouldn’t you know it? He was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with a cartoon Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on it. The nose of said reindeer was a huge, red pompom. Linda stood behind him holding Charlie on one hip, plus some delicious looking contributions for the family feast with her other arm. The items in her arms failed to cover up that she, too, was wearing a matching Christmas sweater. _Oh dear Dad, please don’t let Charlie_ -but he did. Charlie was bedecked in a tiny Rudolph sweater.

Chloe nudged Lucifer, and the two of them grinned at each other, shaking their heads.

“Don’t you look festive!” exclaimed Chloe, before Lucifer could say something snarky about the sweaters.

“Thank you,” said Linda, smiling, “The sweaters were Amenadiel’s idea, actually.”

“Of course they were,” muttered Lucifer under his breath.

“Lucifer, be nice,” Chloe murmured. Pouting about the lost opportunity, Lucifer nodded.

After their guests were relieved of most of their armloads of supplies and proper hugs and greeting were exchanged, Amenadiel stepped into the living room. Looking around the room, he began pointing to the items on the coffee table.

“Up,” he pointed, “Up,...yeah that one, too, up…”

Lucifer and Trixie swiftly grabbed the indicated items and placed them on higher shelves. The electric candles were pushed back until they were up against the window, and Amenadiel continued surveying the room. “Up,...up…Trixie, does your door lock?”

Chloe grabbed the key from the junk drawer and secured Trixie’s barn door. Pleased at last, Amenadiel then placed a baby gate across the stairwell, then fenced in the kitchen from both sides of the breakfast bar. The final touch was a fence around the entire base of the tree. After placing the tower of gifts behind the fence, he turned to Linda, “Okay, let ‘er rip.”

Linda put Charlie down, and immediately he began toddling around the room, grabbing whatever he could-including Uncle Luci’s Prada, much to his chagrin.

The afternoon was rather enjoyable. The group sat in the living room watching Charlie and Trixie play together, while they engaged in pleasant conversation. Linda and Amenadiel were seated on the couch, while Lucifer sat in the recliner, with Chloe perched on one of the recliner’s arms. Lucifer had to admit, it wasn’t a BAD way to spend Christmas; there was nothing pressing to do, and he felt...peaceful.

Per his own tradition, Lux closed Christmas Eve after the annual Naughty Missus Claus contest, and remained closed until New Year’s Eve. It not only allowed Lux’s staff the time off to be with their families, but it provided the decorators ample time to remove the Christmas decorations and prepare for the always over-the-top New Year’s party Lucifer always hosted. Chloe hadn’t been called in to work; it was very thoughtful of the criminal element to refrain from killing each other. None of Linda’s patients went into crisis. So all in all, the afternoon was quite enjoyable, very relaxing, Christmas sweaters notwithstanding.

Chloe had set the TV on at low volume, playing Christmas music programming. No one was really paying any attention to it; it was merely a pleasant ambient background providing holiday music. That all changed abruptly when an announcer declared, “Breaking news out of Los Angeles.”

There were two things police officers and their loved ones dreaded: 1. answering the door to find two police officers standing there requesting to come in, and 2. hearing the words over mass media, “Breaking news from____” Quickly, Chloe grabbed the remote that had been moved out of Charlie’s reach and turned up the volume, as all eyes turned toward the TV.

It seems that a guest at the Pendry Hotel on Sunset Blvd decided that taking his children to Los Angeles for the holidays just wasn’t exciting enough, so he made arrangements to smuggle eight reindeer into their suite as a Christmas surprise. The biggest surprise was on him, unfortunately, because he was unable to obtain actual reindeer. Undaunted, he chose the next best thing-eight 7-8 point bucks, which had gotten loose and were now running around the lobby wreaking havoc in their wake.

“We will bring you further details on this developing story when they become avai-oomph!” Just as the reporter was finishing up, the deer crashed through the plate glass entryway, and began rampaging in the street, knocking over the reporter, and sending the camera flying. Everyone in the Decker apartment began laughing hysterically.

Before they had calmed down, however, they saw a second camera, which showed a police cruiser pulling up on scene. Sensing a threat, the deer charged at the car. The officer inside said cruiser swerved to avoid hitting any of the animals, losing control. The vehicle ended up striking and taking out a nearby fire hydrant before sliding on its side up against the hotel building, behind the newly-created street geyser.

Once again, they heard a loud shattering of glass, and realized that one of the deer had run through the window of a nearby sex shop. Moments later, they were all laughing again as the deer reemerged from the shop-with red and white peppermint-striped dildos hanging from its antlers, as it began running down the street.

“Yeeeeee-HAW!” yelled a voice from the middle of the road. Another camera caught an older man, wheelchair-bound, wearing a camo military jacket, being pulled down the road by another one of the deer. He had snagged the animal with his scarf, and was having the time of his life, yelling joyfully, waving his U.S. Army cover up and down with his free hand, as the animal took him for a jaunt down the street.

“SARGE!” Chloe shrieked with laughter.

“Well,” said Lucifer, “I see that Sarge enjoyed the bottle of Christmas cheer I gave him.”

Chloe looked at Lucifer wide-eyed, “You gave him a bottle of scotch?”

“Why NOT,” pouted Lucifer. “It’s Christmas. Besides, YOU only give him sandwiches-or hamburgers.”

Sarge was a fixture on Hollywood Blvd. He had returned from Vietnam as a double amputee, and had since lived his life on the streets. He spent his days drinking away his inner demons, but he was harmless, no threat to anyone except himself. Most of the cops knew him and watched out for him. Chloe’s father always took care of him, and when Chloe joined the force, she had continued her father’s legacy.

Every time she met up with him, they always had the same conversation. “You’re John Decker’s kid, ain’t ja? Tell ‘im I said ‘Hi’.” She would always just smile and assure him that she’d do just that.

Sarge had actually attended John Decker’s funeral, but that was many bottles of cheap whiskey ago.

Before the conversation got too serious, the events on Sunset Blvd continued to unfold. One of the cameras caught a deer chasing a man down the street-but not just any man. As the man drew closer to the camera, they recognized who the deer was chasing-DAN! Dan’s face was white, his features creased with terror as the deer closed the distance between them. At the very last minute, Dan managed to run between two parked cruisers and avoid his undoubtably painful fate with the deer, not realizing the impending hit to his reputation. Dan courageously running away from the charging deer had been caught on tape.

“Daddyheeheehee…!” his unsympathetic daughter howled with laughter.

“Karma-ha-ha-ha-ha,” laughed Chloe. By this time, she was laughing so hard that she lost her balance on the arm of the chair. If Lucifer hadn’t grabbed her at the last minute, she would have ended up on the floor. For “safety reasons”, Lucifer reached up and drew her into his lap to watch as the rest of the drama unfolded before them.

Moments later, they heard the now all too familiar sound of shattering glass as a deer jumped through the window of a local jewelry store. This was followed minutes later by the sound of another window breaking, because why would the deer use the window it had already broken when there was another window it could destroy? The deer ran out into the street and charged off, a diamond tiara hanging off one of its antlers.

By now, Sunset Blvd was lined with police vehicles and animal control trucks. However, the all hands bulletin was still in place. Sgt. McCarthy had received the dispatch as he had left the Childrens Hospital. Every year, he volunteered to deliver all the toys from the precinct’s annual toy drive, and it was a job he enjoyed doing. He bore a...um,... _strong physical resemblance?_...to Santa Clause, and the precinct’s Santa suit fit him perfectly, without the need for stuffing pillows into the front. Unfortunately, due to protocol, he couldn’t swing by the precinct to change. He quickly pulled up on scene, got out of his cruiser,...and was immediately mowed down by a group of four deer. Because of his robust physique, he lay in the street, arms and legs flailing, before two officers ran to him and helped him up.

“ _Santa got run over by a reindeer_ ,” Chloe and Linda sang, at the same time, before collapsing in laughter.

Lucifer had always thought that the song was ridiculous, although Maze had always gotten a kick out of it. But because his Chloe had sung it, Lucifer surreptitiously added it to his playlist on his phone. A memento to this day.

The camera closest to the erstwhile fire hydrant-turned-geyser showed a group of officers attempting to load one of the deer into the animal control truck. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, one of the deer had left a...gift behind. No one understood that the viscosity of deer pellets changes when they are exposed to a large volume of water. As Dan was pushing the deer into the truck, he slipped in the deer ‘mud’ and went sliding down the street. When he finally got up, his entire front was smeared with the offending substance.

By now, Chloe was laughing so hard, she wasn’t even making noise. The only indication she was laughing at all was that she was flopped against Lucifer’s chest with her mouth open, her shoulders shaking violently. The rest of the group made up for her silence. Lucifer and Linda’s cheery laughs, Amenadiel’s rich baritone chuckle, Trixie’s giggle, accompanied by Charlie’s baby laughter-probably a response because everyone else was laughing-filled the air of the apartment.

Another camera further down the street picked up the action as a lone deer crashed through the entryway at Lux.

“If that vile creature takes out my top shelf, we’re having venison for dinner,” declared Lucifer, tersely.

He needn’t have worried. A couple of minutes later, the same deer came tearing out of Lux, its eyes rolled to the back of its head in abject terror. The deer had every reason to be terrified; it had just been chased out of the nightclub by Mazikeen of the Lilim, who was holding a whip.

Standing in the middle of the street, Maze bellowed, “ ’EY!”

Every deer and several officers froze in place. “Get your [ _Beeeeeeeeeeep_ ] asses in the [ _Beeeeeeeeeeep_ ] truck NOW!”

Heads lowered, the eight deer walked submissively down the street and climbed into the truck. Three officers, with their heads bowed, also climbed in, looked around, realized that Maze wasn’t talking to them, and sheepishly climbed back out of the truck again. And just like that, the whole event was over.

“Oh my God! Oh my God, I gotta peeheeheeheehee,” giggled Chloe as she jumped up, climbed over the baby gate and headed up the stairs.

Lucifer took that moment to check his phone. “MazenEve are on their way over,” he yelled up the stairs. MazenEve, the new collective noun for the newly established relationship that began after Eve’s return from her soul-searching journey.

“K”, he heard as the bathroom door shut. From time to time, the group in the living room heard muffled giggles coming from upstairs.

Trixie looked at the now-calm group sitting in the living room. “This is the Best Christmas EVER!” she declared. “Mommy hasn’t laughed like that in a long time.”

It was true. None of the group had EVER heard Chloe laugh like that. Oh, she laughed. They all heard her giggle and snort, and they’d all heard her normal, melodic laugh. But, they’d never heard her shriek with laughter until the tears ran down her face, had never seen her laugh so hard that she couldn’t even emit a sound. So, it was surprising to them that Chloe had EVER laughed like that. And let’s face it, Chloe’s regular demeanor was stone-cold serious, at best.

“She used to laugh like that all the time when I was little, but then she and Daddy started fighting, and she just got really serious all the time.”

“I bet YOU could make her laugh,” said Linda, gently.

“Oh yeah, I make her laugh, I’m good at it” replied Trixie, proudly, “but she didn’t really start laughing a lot more until she met all of you.” She paused for a moment, then said, quite soberly, “The last time I heard her laughing like that was when she was dating Marcus. He came over and was going to cook lobster for us. The styrofoam box the lobsters were in tipped over,…” Trixie’s face lit up with the memory of the fiasco, “and all the lobsters got out. Marcus was trying to grab the lobsters, and Mommy started laughing really hard. And then,…” Trixie’s face sobered, “Marcus yelled at her. Told her it wasn’t funny and to cut it out. He grabbed all the lobsters, put them back in the box and left, so me ‘n Mommy had pizza for dinner instead. She was crying. He made her cry a lot. I’m glad Mommy didn’t marry him.” Trixie looked at the heartbroken faces surrounding her. “I just love that I heard Mommy laughing like that, again.”

“It makes us happy, too, Child,” said Lucifer, huskily. He took advantage of the knock at the door to get his emotions in check as he rose to let MazenEve into the house. Inwardly, he was considering a quick jaunt to Hell to tweak Cain’s Hell loop. Just enough to add a crying Chloe into the mix...

After the newcomers had greeted everyone, Eve sat down on the floor with the kids and began playing with them. Seeing that her girlfriend was otherwise occupied, Maze looked around and said, “Whatcha’ do with Decker?”

“She went upstairs after the newscast you were so prominently featured in, and hasn’t come down yet,” Lucifer answered.

At once, Maze jumped over the baby gate and ran up the stairs. “Decker! Ja fall in, or what?”

“Mmmm mmm mmm mmmph mmm mmm mmm mmph,” came the reply.

The gathering looked up just in time to see a tower of gifts standing in the doorway at the top of the stairs on two fuzzy white socks with candy canes printed on them.

“Decker! Did your brains fall out? You’ve got all these...BEINGS in your living room. You don’t need to do this all by yourself. Geeze!”

Rolling her eyes, Maze grabbed the top present and dropped it over the railing. Lucifer deftly caught it, tossed it to Linda, who tossed it to Amenadiel, who, in turn, dropped it over the baby fence around the tree. They continued the cycle until all the gifts were safely deposited under the tree, and Chloe came downstairs to join them.

She and Lucifer began the final preparations for the Christmas feast. Lucifer had learned earlier that day that the reason the Detective had a large piece of plywood in her storage area was to cover her dining room table. With it, and the additional folding chairs stored near it, she now had a seating area big enough to accommodate all the guests. The table was now covered in a festive tablecloth, with a beautiful holiday centerpiece consisting of a white birch log with red candles, surrounded with fresh pine boughs and holly sprigs in the middle. The centerpiece was an apology gift from Dan. As soon as she received it, she had called Dan to thank him. He again apologized profusely, and Chloe had immediately invited him over for dinner. He would take Trixie home for the rest of the week, which had been the original plan. It hadn’t been the first time that Lucifer had been positively floored over the Detective’s ability to forgive so easily, just the most recent. But then again, if Father had created her to love the Devil, wouldn’t she almost HAVE TO have that ability? Hmmm.

Chloe’s phone began buzzing on the counter as she and Lucifer were getting the food ready, and Maze answered it.

“Yeah,” she said in greeting. After a moment, she ended the call saying, “Take a shower first. Yeah. We saw it.” Smirk. “That was Dan. He’s on his way over.”

“K” shouted Chloe over the sound of the mixer. Lucifer was finishing up his famous garlic mashed potatoes-and Chloe couldn’t wait!

While she and Linda were putting the various dishes on the table, and Lucifer was carving the turkey, Maze suddenly grabbed the Walgreen’s bag she had previously tossed onto the breakfast bar, and started handing out the contents.

“Dan’s walking up the stairs. Everyone, put these on.”

Moments later, when Dan walked through the door, he was greeted by a room full of occupants-all wearing reindeer antler headbands, staring at him with deadpan expressions. 

“Hey, Merry Christma-oh Go-really?” he sputtered, shaking his head.

“Daddy, that was SO FUNNY!” Trixie exclaimed, running to hug her dad.

After Dan had placed his gifts under the tree, everyone took their places around the table, and the feasting began. After the initial chorus of “yums” and “Oh! That’s so goods”, Maze suddenly spoke up.

“Hey wait a minute! Where’s Ellen? Didn’t you invite her?”

“I invited her,” Chloe replied, “but she went back to Detroit to be with her family. Apparently, her Abuelita isn’t doing so well, so she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her.” After a chorus of sympathetic comments, Chloe continued, “She says she’ll Face Time us tonight, if she’s able, but it’s Ella. I suspect it’s going to depend on how far into the coquito she’s gotten.”

That earned a few snickers, then the conversation turned to other topics. Eventually, the topic of favorite Christmas movies came up.

Amenadiel admitted that he loved It’s a Wonderful Life.

“Oh? The redemptive arc of a fallen angel appeals to you, Brother?” quipped Lucifer.

Amenadiel pointed his finger at Lucifer and said, “Ding! Ding! Ding!”

Oh my Dad, it was a Christmas miracle! Amenadiel had just told a joke. “Well done, Brother,” said Lucifer with a smirk.

Linda went on to say that she always got a kick out of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. “If I had that family as clients, I could retire in five years,” she said, much to everyone’s amusement.

Eve liked the Hallmark channel offerings because “they start out sad, but the endings are all about the happiness around Christmas. And a lot of the people find their true love. Those movies are so sweet!”

Maze was sitting next to her motioning jamming her finger down her throat to gag herself. When Eve turned an looked at her, Maze just smiled lovingly and kissed her.

Maze was sharing how she liked Home Alone. “Yeah, the ending’s a little lame, but that Kevin kid? He’d make an awesome demon. I like him.”

“I actually introduced the paint cans into some of the Hell loops when I was there. Very amusing,” said Lucifer.

“Ha!” snorted Maze.

After a moment, Lucifer said, “Detective? What about you? Favorite Christmas movie?”

“Oh! A Christmas Story,” she answered, which prompted a chorus of “You’ll shoot your eye out, Kid,” from around the table, followed by hearty laughter.

“What about you, Lucifer?” she asked.

“Oh,” he said, “Nothing says ‘Christmas’ more to me than watching Die Hard. Seeing Hans Gruber falling off the Nakatomi Tower is such a cinematic MASTERPIECE!”

“Yeah!” said Dan, excitedly, “Yeah! And they’re all up on the roof, and the helicopter’s coming,-”

“And Gruber’s got the detonator in his hand,” added Lucifer, “and he grabs Holly-”

“And McClaine saves Holly, and Gruber-” furnished Dan. The two men made the universal falling to Earth whistle while lowering their hands to the table, fingers pointed down.

With a huge smile on his face, Dan looked at Lucifer and said, “It’s what I’ve been trying to tell Chloe for years…”

“It’s a Christmas movie!” they said together, bumping knuckles.

Chloe facepalmed and shook her head. Children. She was surrounded by children.

Everyone pitched in and helped Chloe clean up and put away leftovers, and she made a point of making up care packages for everyone to take home. Nothing better than Christmas leftovers!

Eventually, everyone made their way to the living room to exchange gifts. Although everyone had agreed to only buy gifts for the children, they had all turned around and bought gifts for each other, as well. But, they all knew what the road to Hell was paved with.

Lucifer had actually taken Chloe’s advice-wha?-and had bought Charlie the ubiquitous Little Tykes tricycle, something that Linda and Amenadiel could take with them when they took Charlie to the park. To everyone’s amusement, the minute the tricycle was out of the box, Charlie picked up the box, threw it over his head, and began walking around.

“That brings back memories,” chuckled Dan. “Up until Trixie was three, Chloe and I thought maybe we should forget about buying her presents, and just give her boxes.”

Trixie gave her father a look. “Really? Just boxes?”

“Yeah, Monkey, you got more of a kick playing with the boxes than playing with the toys.” Trixie remained unconvinced, so Dan added, “It’s a toddler thing, Trix,” and shrugged his shoulders.

In the meantime, gifts were being doled out. Lucifer got up from the recliner and picked up a gift, which he promptly dropped unceremoniously into Dan’s lap.

“Ugh!” said Dan, curling in on himself, “Guess I’m not having any more children.”

The gift turned out to be a Costco-sized case of Dan’s favorite pudding-a mix of chocolate and vanilla. “Thanks, Man, this makes up for about half of what you’ve stolen from me over the years,” he said.

Trixie shyly walked over to Lucifer, holding a tiny box. She had been delighted with the telescope he had given her, and even more delighted when he promised to take her to a spot where she could see the stars perfectly. Lucifer always kept his promises, so Trixie was really looking forward to the outing.

Standing in front of him now, Trixie held her gift out, “Merry Christmas, Lucifer. This is for you.”

“You got me a gift, Child? How thoughtful of you. Thank you!”

Lucifer unwrapped the box, and discovered it contained a devil emojii stick pin-complete with _red crystal eyes_. Smiling, he said, “Thank you so much, Child. It’s perfect.”

With that, he fixed the stick pin onto his lapel. That little lapel pin had so much meaning behind it, and for that, it was far more valuable to him than the Rolex on his wrist.

One of Lucifer’s gifts to The Tribe, which now included Eve, was a getaway spa package.

“Decker!” said Maze, sitting in a pile of new leather goods and weaponry, “This isn’t the one we got kicked out of, is it?”

Chloe shot a terrified look over at Linda, who looked rather nonplussed.

“This one is outside of Aspen,” replied Lucifer. “I’ve called in a favor to fly you there. You ladies will be sleeping on the grounds in your own cabin. Full amenities, hot tub, etc. Please try NOT TO get thrown out. The gentleman who owns this particular facility is very useful to me. Thank you. I’ll give Ms. Lopez’s reservation to her when she returns to us.”

“Thank you, Lucifer, this is very generous,” said Linda.

“Thank you,” said Chloe, leaning over to kiss him from her perch on the arm of the chair. MazenEve also echoed their thanks.

“Wait...you got thrown out of a spa?” asked Dan, looking at Chloe incredulously. “You?”

“Not my fault,” she said, but Dan kept looking at her.

Realizing that Dan wasn’t going to drop the subject, she continued. “So, we went to a weekend spa retreat, and my room had a balcony that was over the front entrance. Really pretty. So,...we were all out there drinking, and Ella got sick, so she leaned over the balcony and puked, but we didn’t know that Leonardi DiCaprio was walking in with his group, and-”

“She puked on Leonardo DiCaprio?” said said Lucifer, a prideful smirk on his face, “Well done, Ms. Lopez!”

“Yeah,” laughed Maze. “She’d been drinking something with curacao? So, she barfed BLUE. It was cool.”

Amenadiel and Dan looked aghast, but the rest of the group was laughing at the memory. Trixie thought the whole story was absolutely hilarious, but of course she would. Puke was involved.

“Anyway, the management knocked on my door, and we were all asked to leave,” Chloe continued.

“You and your friends, Man,” said Dan, shaking his head.

“So, that’s three tiki bars-” Lucifer began.

“ONE tiki bar,” Chloe corrected.

“Five dive bars,” Lucifer continued.

“TWO dive bars,” Linda replied.

“And a spa you’ve been kicked out of?” Lucifer finished. “That’s quite the trail of destruction.”

Dan shook his head. What happened to his quiet, stick in the mud ex-wife? And why wasn’t he more upset? She’d changed, that’s why. She was learning to have fun-finally. As much as he hated to admit it, Chloe had changed in response to Lucifer as much as Lucifer had changed in response to HER. And it wasn’t terrible.

“That last dive bar was great!” said Maze. “Amazing brawl! EVERYONE in the bar was duking it out. Best Tribe Night EVER!”

“The last bar…” mused Linda. Her face brightened, “The Silver City Taproom. We were cast out of the Silver City,” she chortled.

“And BANNED from coming back,” Chloe laughed. “We were cast out and BANNED from the Silver City.”

She collapsed against Lucifer’s shoulder, laughing. Although Amenadiel looked thoroughly uncomfortable, the rest of the group more than made up for his reaction, laughing freely.

There was only one box left under the tree at this point, a small, slender box. Chloe picked it up and brought it over to Lucifer, resuming her position on the arm of the recliner. Lucifer opened it up to reveal an envelope from a conservancy group that offered animal “adoptions” to fund research. Immediately, his face lit up brighter than the Christmas tree.

“Detective! You got a shark for me? Oh! I can’t wait to meet him...her?...HER.”

One of the enclosed papers had a background on the animal in question-a great white shark named Suzy. Among the papers was a detailed map showing Suzy’s established migratory trail.

“And look! She has an organized travel route. Such a clever girl! Thank you, Detective,” he said, kissing her. “I’ll start making arrangements to meet up with this research vessel.”

“Lucifer, I don’t think you can-” Chloe began, but stopped. “Never mind.” Who was she kidding? A favor here, a deal there and Lucifer would be on that ship in no time. She just shook her head, smiling.

“What did Lucifer get YOU, Chloe?” Linda asked.

“Oh! He got me a new bed,” Chloe replied.

“What was wrong with the old one?” Dan asked.

“Well,” said Chloe, shifting uncomfortably, “Lucifer and I were...in bed,...and...the bed frame just broke and the whole bed just collapsed with us in it, and-”

“It was NOT the ‘bang’ we were going for,” Lucifer finished.

There was a brief silence while everyone processed the information, followed by an eruption of laughter.

“It was all that snoring,” Lucifer teased. “Years of sonic-scaled reverberations weakened the wood, created stress fractures, and then-oomph” he said, as Chloe slapped him in the chest, with a smile on her face.

“Well, THIS one won’t fall apart,” said Lucifer. “It’s solid oak, made by the same people who made MY bed in the penthouse. Interruptus solved.” Chloe snorted.

“Decker!” called Maze, throwing a thumb drive to her, “Merry Christmas.”

Chloe looked at her for a second, then it dawned on her. “Is this...?” she asked.

“Yup,” Maze replied, popping the ‘p’. Somehow, Maze had gotten the footage of the Great Deer Debacle.

Immediately, Chloe got up and inserted the drive into the television. Once again, the group was treated to the deer-induced chaos that was Sunset Blvd., with Dan witnessing his brave endeavor to escape the deer. He good-naturedly endured the ribbing that followed, while he sat with his head in his hands. It was then that he realized he was never going to live this down, and frankly, he didn’t think he wanted to. It WAS pretty funny.

******

After the guests had left, Lucifer and Chloe were snuggled together on the couch in front of the fire, with Chloe dozing lightly against his shoulder. The Detective looked especially beautiful in the glow from the fireplace, and Lucifer just sat there admiring her. He had never seen her laugh so much, never seen her more relaxed, despite the huge amount of work she’d had to do. It was worth it. These people-their family-had brought all this out in her, and Lucifer was nothing but grateful. It was at that moment that Lucifer became keenly aware of what he was feeling-even without Linda’s guidance. He realized that family wasn’t necessarily genetics; family was who YOU chose to include in your life-who YOU chose to love. And that kind of family wasn’t such a bad thing after all. And at that moment, Lucifer was able to identify his own emotions: feelings he hadn’t experienced since before his Fall, before his siblings turned their backs on him, before he was viewed as evil and not worthy of love. He, Lucifer Morningstar, felt joy and peace.


End file.
